Vampires, vampires..Vampires coming out of our ying yangs. They have always been a popular choice for Hollywood to use, in both straight up horror movies and more stylized, action fare like Underworld or Blade. Then of course we have the dreaded Twilight movies, putting yet another spin on it..although I'm not sure that those fangless fools that feature in those films can officially be classed as vamps. Anyway, coming up with a fresh interesting take on the mythos is a very difficult thing now that the blood suckers have saturated the market. So now we have Daybreakers.
The concept of this one is that Vampires have all but taken over. In fact with less than 5% of the population still human, they pretty much run the planet. They walk about, doing exactly what they would have done as a human, only at night, and sucking down human blood as they go. And here is the problem. With humans becoming scarce, the blood supply is running out, and some vamps are regressing into vicious bat-like creatures because they can't get their fix. So with starvation threatening, compassionate vampire chemist Edward(I know, what are the odds!) played by Ethan Hawke, sets about trying to come up with a synthetic blood substitute. His boss(Sam Neil) assures him that this will end the need for human farming..of course he's lying, being the baddie and all! When Edward helps a group of human freedom fighters led by Elvis(Willem Dafoe) he is hunted as a traitor and joins up with them. There is more to it, but I would be entering spoiler territory if I said any more.
Props should be given to the Spierig Brothers for at least trying to come up with an original take on the vampire story, and they succeed in that side of it. The movie looks great, the performances are fine if not overly engaging, and for the first hour it really seems like its going to be a great film. Then it all goes pear shaped. A silly plot device ensures that the film makers write/direct themselves into a corner that they can only fight out of by turning Daybreakers into a cliched, generic action flick with exploding bodies. Its blatant play for a sequel doesn't help matters either. Why does everything have to be a "franchise" these days? Why isn't anyone interested in just telling a damn story? Anyway, I won't get into that. Its frustrating because this could have been really good, instead its just..meh. Entertaining certainly, but you will have forgotten about it as soon as you leave the cinema. And while that type of movie has its place, Daybreakers flirts with being of a higher caliber.
I would recommend it for vamp/gore fans, but even then you might be disappointed. You could see worse in the flicks at the moment..but you could see a lot better too.
3 out of 5 stars.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.